They Call Me the Scavenger's Daughter
by poisonanon
Summary: Ciel, Sebastian, and Grell find themselves trailing after a sadistic killer named the Scavenger's Daughter, killing people not on the to-die list and leaving complicated clues on the next victim, taunting the investigators. And Ciel hates being taunted.
1. Chapter 1

_hurrrrr_

_ughhh_

_Brrrrghh_

_Frrreerrrrr_

These noises in the void can be heard, even through the haze of rain.

But sometimes-like pain-the noises fade. The pain was below the darkness, and she asked if there really was darkness after all. There was no sense of light, but what was light? She didn't know why she was asking that. But she could hear the noises, if that's what noises were, but she didn't bother to ask. She just knew. She didn't bother to care either.

In the darkness, with the fading rapid pain, she couldn't think through the haze. She couldn't ask, her mouth couldn't move, but she didn't care. The pain was rising now, like an old friend at the door. And she couldn't move, couldn't think, didn't know who she was, or what she was, or where, when, why? Did it matter? The pain was burning, and she had a sense of self at least, and through the pain and darkness, she wanted to die. Did she care? Not really. Through the pain and rain filled haze she didn't know what she wished, if she could wish at all.

But the noises were the only source of outer existence called her out. She didn't wish to wake. She rather stay in the blackness.

The pain came again, a stomp it felt like. A boot perhaps? On her stomach.

That's right, wasn't it? She was a person. Pain was just another factor of existence.

More pain, and then the noises were clear now. Voices. Angry gruff voices.

She didn't care to listen to the words. All she could feel was pain. The feeling of utter loss, of detachment, a failure to identify a sense of self. She didn't like the pain. She wanted it to stop.

With the thought, she regained something out of the void.

An inch. Her very last. And she would guard it jealously, never to give it away. Her very last inch. And it was hers. The last thing she would own.

_I want it to stop_

More pain. Stinging, burning, laughing.

_Please make it stop. Make it stop hurting._

And suddenly Vision! Blinding vision, laughing face. Cruel grins fixed on her crying eyes, stinging pain, furious, hateful, disgusting eyes.

_MAKE THE PAIN STOP. MAKE IT STOP. STOP STOP DIRTY PAIN HORRIBLE PAIN ON DIRTY TRICKY HATEFUL PAIN OH STOP!_

_What would you do? What would you give away_?

_You can have it! You can have it! You can have the very last inch of me! Take it! Take it! I don't want it!_

_What do you want in return?_

The laughing face drenched in blood.

_I accept._

Their screams blanched, hot musky blood splattered against her face. She smiled.

The bat clawed and shrieked, violet eyes blazing, fangs glistening.

_We have a contract, sweet one?_

_Yes, yes. You can have everything/_

Every inch. Down to the last one.

_What do I call you?_

_Whatever my Lady wishes._

Elenora. Elenora Ayers. The name of a rag doll, loved and lost.

_We're partners now. Until you take every last inch of me._

+X+

Their first victim cried and blubbered like a piece of filth.

She laughed while she did it. She can see his hate in his eyes. She swallowed it. Went into the flames and swallowed his hate. Her delicate hands, porcelain with dirt scraped under her nails, they grasped the barbed wire in his hands. His words had no real value, they meant nothing. All that mattered was the hate, and she wrapped the wire around his legs, then his arms, and finally his neck in a compressed position, gently wrapping it like a mother. She cooed and smiled kindly.

Elenora watched with hungry eyes. Her violet hair cascaded down her shoulder, her pink hungry eyes flaring. Her skin was not delicate porcelain, but whitest alabaster. She dressed in a spiky black coat, almost like a bat.

She wrapped the final piece of wire, and tightened her grip, watching the blood dribble out of her victims face. The pressure was too much. He gurgled, and then slowly died.

And that was the only time she ever felt anything at all.

+X+

"And where do you think YOU'RE going?"

"Just a breather William~! It's so stuff in this office!"

"Get back here and finish your paperwork Sutcliff. You're not shirking your responsibilities AGAIN!"

"Aw William, you a slave driver ~ I just want a break!"

"You can have breaks on your own time Sutcliff," Will pushed his glasses back, "Honestly, you keep complaining about you death scythe, you'd think you'd do something about it."

"But it's been months William! I doubt just a couple of pieces of paperwork is going to count in the long r-"

"Mr. Spears! Mr. Spears!" A frantic woman burst into Grell's office. Grill humphed. How dare she interrupt his time alone with dear William~

"What is it this time Cecilia? I've got enough on my plate at it is-"

"We just ran over the numbers for last week's report, and we've got mismatched numbers! They don't add up!"

"And why are you telling me this _now?_ Last week's numbers should have been run _last week!_ Do you know how much paperwork it will take to recover-"

"Its rouge Mr. Spears! Someone died that shouldn't have! More than a someone! Several Someones! Their souls are probably floating 'round London-"

"Get out. Now. Thanks you Cecilia."

William turned to glare at Grell.

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

"Wasn't me Willy~ Besides, what am I going to do with-these?" Grell brandished his scissors in disdain.

"If not you- then it's probably that blasted demon."

"Oh! Sebas-chan is involved? William can I please-pleeeaaassseee-!"

"No."

"C'MON! You want me to do work, I want to get out of this office! How many other reapers do you know can waltz up to Sebas-chan without getting attacked! I can investigate! C'mon Willy!"

William gritted his teeth before turning to Grell.

"You can go. But you must report back immediately. I want a full account of what you find. And try not to get into too much trouble."

"Yes! Thank you Will~! You won't regret it!" And with that, Grell leaped up and planted his lips on William's, pulling away quickly and waving goodbye at him frantically.

Will scrunched up his nose, blushing and scowling at the same time.

"Then why am I already regretting it?"

+X+

Ciel almost didn't want to open the letter in front of him. It was outlandish, and smelled of something that was supposed to be Flowers.

Sebastian smiled at him from behind the desk, "Young Master, do you really expect to avoid this?"

"No," Ciel sighed, "I supposed I've ignored her long enough. I've run out of excuses."

"I'm sure Lady Elizabeth will be delighted. Should I prepare a response?"

"There's no need. I'll write one myself. You can go and prepare for our departure-"

"MASTER! MASTER! A letter has come in fer you, it did!" Meirin clambered down the hall into Ciel's study, seemingly out of breath.

"Who's it from Meirin?"

"I don't rightly know Master, I found it on the back patio I did! Looks urgent!"

Sebastian plucked the letter from Meirin's grasp and sent her on her way, handing the letter to Ciel.

The blue eyed boy opened the letter bearing the familiar crest of the queen. He sighed.

"It looks like you'll be needing to write a letter to Elizabeth after all. Explain that I am being called away on business. Prepare our carriage to London. We're leaving immediately."

"Why the suddenness, My Lord?" Sebastian smiled.

"There is a new string of murders occurring in London. It breaks the Queen's heart. We are to stop the culprit immediately."

"Yes, my Lord."

+X+

"AARRGGHH! Is that any way to treat a lady?"

"I see no lady,"

"Ah! Sebby~ You offend me!"

"Wounded even?"

"_Hurt, _Sebby!"

"I'm sure you'll survive, much to my distaste. Now, why did you take it upon yourself to hide under the master's carriage?"

"Sebastian, put him down. His squabbling is annoying."

"Of course Young Master," Sebastian grinned while dumping Grell unceremoniously on the floor.

"Now Reaper, I'm only going to ask once, and it better be the truth, and if I find out you're lying, I'll be severely annoyed, and people tend to get hurt when I'm annoyed. Do you have anything to do with the Murders going on in London?"

"Funny thing actually," Grell smiled, while dusting himself off, "The reason I'm here is to ask Sebby the same thing~ Those murders weren't supposed to happen, so now Dispatch is going crazy with all the unclaimed souls roaming around."

"Unclaimed…"

"They weren't supposed to die. Poor William! He's probably furious~!"

"Blast," Ciel gritted his teeth, "We're dealing with a demon, aren't we?"

"It appears so Young Master, but we won't know until we investigate. Shall we go then?"

"Yes, you're right," he shot a glare at Grell, "You're here to investigate right? You're coming with us. And it you make any suspicious moves, I won't hesitate to avenge my Aunt's death."

"Oh poor Angelina! Why'd you have to go and remind me of that travesty! I miss her so!"

"And yet, you go around parading in her clothes."

"Only in sweet memory brat! Now, why don't we exchange a little in-for-ma-tion~! I'm expensive though! For every word I get a kiss from my dear Bassy!"

+X+

"The Murderer carries out his kills in an odd but specific way. It earned him his name. The Scavenger's Daughter."

"A torture device isn't it? I've heard of them. I've seen what they can do. Nasty things aren't they? There used to be an old riddle some of the more _eccentric_ torturers use to tell to their victims before they were sent off to bite the big one. It was fairly obvious. What is the gift of the Scavenger's Daughter? The answer is blood. Quite morbid."

"Yes, but instead of using the torture device itself, he uses barbed wire in its place."

"Oh!~ What a creative soul! I really must meet this killer!"

Ciel frowned, "It makes me wonder why a demon would go to such extreme lengths to execute a murder. These aren't crimes of passion. These are thought out beforehand. These are hate crimes."

"It's of no matter of importance to me, whether these are accidents or assassinations. The killer needs to be stopped."

"That's funny, coming from you," Ciel sneered.

Grell flicked his hair over his shoulder, "It's different. At least I collected the souls I killed. This murderer is just letting the poor things wander. That's just irresponsible."

"Why is that such a problem?"

Grell shot up in his seat glaring at the Phantomhive boy. He was lucky Sebastian was driving the carriage, or Grell would find himself thrown under it.

"A soul can't exist without a body, and vice versa. A body is a shell. It protects the soul! Imagine not having skin! Your body shields the soul from all the nastiness of the world. Without a shield, your soul will rot. And it can go on forever, just rotting away. It's the duty of Reapers to safely cart souls into the next stages of life. It's just saddening to see the poor things just wither away!"

"Then it's not wrong of me to assume you want this done as quickly as possible."

"Are you kidding? Maybe William will give me my scythe back~"

+X+

They stopped in front of the Undertaker's, much to Grell's displeasure.

"Ugh! I thought we were going to see the body!"

"I've learned a long time ago that I have a better chance of gaining information from him than the Scotland Yard. We won't be long."

The parlor was just as drab as it always was, the Undertaker was cackling behind the counter.

"I've been expecting you Young Earl! Welcome! Welcome! I see you brought the lovely lady in red! William's pitching a fit I expect!"

"No more so than usual," Grell frowned at him.

"Oh dear! Still upset about that comment I made! I assure you my dear, I was speaking only from a mortician's view."

"My corpse would've been fabulous and you know it!"

"Can we please move on from this chatter? We have business to attend to," Ciel frowned at the two reaper's banter.

"Ah yes! Business business! Since I'm in such a good mood, I'll let you skip the laugh today!~"

"Why so generous?"

"I was already visited once today! By a young girl no less! She was terribly funny she was! A little older than you Earl, but a little titchy thing she was! Came around and asked about the murder's she did."

"Who was she? Why would she want to know about the murders?" Ciel demanded, growling.

"No one of importance I'm sure. There must have been a lifetime of dirt and grime on her. But she did give me this-"

"The Undertaker pulled out a scrap of paper from his robes and handed it to Ciel.

"What is this?"

"It looks like a puzzle. A crossword perhaps? Why would she give it to you, I wonder?" Sebastian remarked.

"She said the killer left it at the crime scene. The Yard couldn't make much sense of it, so they tossed it, thinking it to be of minimal importance. But I think I know what it is. A clue."

"Sebastian," Ciel shot a glance at him.

"Already done my Lord. The trick question in this was the question Mr. Sutcliff asked himself, in a foreign language. _What is the gift of the Scavenger's Daughter? _ Once you answer that, the puzzle is relatively easy. The answer is 10131 Springwood Lane."

"The location is the crime scene of a murder that occurred a week after the first." Undertaker mused.

"Which means that this crossword was on the scene of the second. The killer is _teasing _us. He wants to show us that we're stupid." Ciel snarled.

"Oh~! This makes things a lot more interesting!" Grell giggled, "Come out with it you old reaper! You know more than you let on!"

"Yes, I discovered an interesting connection to the murders."

"Which is?"

"They're all related. Several times removed perhaps, but they all come from the same family. So far, the victims were each other's cousins."

"Sebastian!"

"Yes my Lord?"

"I want to know who the victims are. Who their friends are, who their enemies are. I want to know the family. The _Family_ is what is being attacked. Not the victims."

"Yes my Lord, of course.

"There is one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Maybe nothing. Maybe something. A rat told me it has seen the killer. Or rather, who _appears_ to be the killer. A woman with violet hair."

"Violet?"

"Dart violet. And pink eyes."

"That's helpful. Thank you Undertaker."

"Happy to help. Farewell Earl. And goodbye to you, Red Maiden."

Grell shook when he stepped out of the shop, "Sometimes even I second guess my gender while I'm around him."

"Let's go Sebastian. I'm tired. Tomorrow we'll go and investigate the victim's families. Also, prepare a room for Mr. Sutcliff, and please make sure that he stays put in his room. I don't think I'll be able to sleep at night with the thought of him wandering about."

"Oh! My goodness! Like a sleep over! But I don't have any night wear! Maybe me and Sebby can share some trousers!~"

+X+

**A/N:**

**Well, here I am, the author of this thing. I hope I did a decent job of doing the characters justice. The last thing I want is an out of character Grell Sutcliff, we wouldn't want THAT train wreck on our hands. This story won't be too long I hope. At least, I want to be able to finish this, so I can get on with the other stories that need finishing. But I do have a good idea on how I'm going to finish this, and I hope you all find this story interesting to read. It's more for entertainment than anything else. Please please please comment and critique and tell me what you think. Love it, hate it? I don't care. I have room for improvement. **


	2. Chapter 2

She had long completely colorless hair. It had been a beautiful honey blond once, but it grew mousy, and soon the color fell out. She was sold after the color was gone. No one wanted her anymore, she looked old, and no customer wanted a girl that looked like their grandmother. It was unkempt and wiry, but when Elenora came around, her hair grew a little livelier, and thicker. Her eyes were mud brown, but it lost its shine and became dull, looking like a blank dark red. Her face was too thin, almost starved. She only ate to survive. She didn't care about food. She didn't care much about anything.

Only when she gnashed her fingers in to the gnarled barb wire did she feel human.

She started to laugh. The women cowering under her held her child protectively, pleading, asking to spare the boy. Do whatever she wanted to her, just let the boy live.

She frowned slightly, before prying the boy from his mother's arms. He was beautiful. She threw him into Elenora's arms.

Do what you want with him, she said, the bitch is mine.

Her scream's intermingled with her son's, echoing around her small house.

She got her brush from the back of the outhouse, and started to paint the back wall. She'd give them a hint, telling them slowly who she was hunting. It was all good fun, letting them have a sporting chance and catching her. Somewhere back when she was just a small girl knew it was wrong, what she was doing, but that part of her was reduced to a whisper, and she could only laugh at herself in her insanity. Because she wasn't _stupid, useless, weak, _or any of the things _those people_ use to tell her she was. She w_as_ smart, and strong, and powerful, and she _mattered._ That's what was important. She _fucking mattered. _ Because after all those years of being an insignificant little tart swept under a rug, she was the most important thing in the world. Her name would be whispered and darted down in history's pages forever. She'd never be forgotten. Ever. Let no one forget the name, her murderess title, _The Scavenger's Daughter._ And even if they did figure it out, it'd only be when it was too late. By the time they'd pieced together her tragedy, she would be ready to die.

+X+

"The crime scene is through here," the officer escorted them in. Ciel had to cover his nose from the stench.

"How long has she been dead?"

"They both died around noon yesterday. The neighbor found them after she detected the smell."

"They?"

"A little boy was found torn to pieces in the back room. No human could have done it; we're assuming he has some sort of dog or something accompanying him."

"I see. Thank you Officer Beckett, we'll take it from here."

"Hope you catch that son of a bitch," he muttered under his breath before storming out.

"He was unusually cooperative." Sebastian remarked, "Looks like your methods of putting a stop to criminals is getting around."

"He's young. He doesn't know better yet. He'll become stubborn soon enough."

Grell sniffed while he snooped around the back room, "Oh how drear. He'd make a fine son."

"Are their souls still wandering about? Maybe you ought to collect them. I swear, I thought you were going to start crying on me when you were explaining the soul thing to me."

"Only the mother's. I met her outside. The boy is lost though. I can't sense an echo of him anywhere. It's as though he didn't exist."

"A demon, no doubt." Sebastian mused, "I didn't think she'd be this much of a pain."

"You _know_ who it is!" Ciel snarled, turning on his butler with glaring eyes, "You were just playing me for a fool, weren't you?"

"You didn't bother to ask, even while I was musing the possibility of a demon responsible. That was your fault, not mine."

"Well, tell me now! Who is the killer, demon? That's an order!"

"I was merely speculating. When the Undertaker mentioned a woman with violet hair, I thought of a past acquaintance. It can easily be someone else."

"Answer the question. I don't have all day."

"Very well Young Master. Who I _think_ the demon is previously went by the name of Dahlia Stanton. Her name could have changed since then. I'm not on speaking terms with her, nor do I think any of my kin is."

"Why's that? I thought you lot were as thick as thieves," Grell pondered.

"No one would be caught dead as Dahlia's friend. She's a nuisance. A trouble maker. She had a lot of potential, but everything went downhill for her since…..t_hat incident…._that I don't want to talk about."

"Hey! Are you talking about that one time when that little minx was caught rounding up all the demons and setting them up for-" Grell chimed in.

"_You shut your filthy mouth Sutcliff. I don't want to talk about it." _Sebastian snarled and turned to glare daggers at Grell.

Grell smiled, giggling to himself at what seemed to be an embarrassing memory for the demon.

"You're telling me the story later," Ciel grinned impishly, "That's an order. Is there anything else you'd like to add about Dahlia?"

"Only that she is likes to wreak havoc where ever she goes. And that she's not a particularly powerful demon. She's human born, so she tends to get emotional, well, more emotionally inclined than a normal demon. So it would be easy to take her down. But I don't think she's the killer."

"They why did you bring her up?" Ciel huffed irritably.

"I think she must have made a contract with a human. _Which is why only one soul was missing_. If Dahlia was just hunting human souls because she was hungry, she'd take both, and she wouldn't kill so many. Also, I think we'd stop referring our killer as a him."

Grell frowned, "Why do you assume that?"

Sebastian smiled, "Because Dahlia is pretty partial to young girls."

+X+

"She wrote something on the wall above the body."

"Yeah, in English this time. What the heck was that gibberish she wrote last time anyway? On the crossword?" Grell asked.

"Old Galician. Irish."

The writing was neat, and if that didn't convince Ciel that the murderer was a girl, nothing would. It had dried, and the blood crusted around the edges.

_Thou shall not suffer a witch to live. _

"Your thoughts young master?"

"It could mean anything. It could mean nothing. Where is that verse from? I think I've heard it before. Also, check the rest of the house. I want to know if the killer left any other clues lying around, like the crossword."

"Yes, my lord."

"Well, if you need me, I'll just be in the little girl's room~!" And Grell scampered off.

Ciel bent down to examine the body. Her name was Dana Strider. He'd have to get Sebastian to find out how she was related to the previous victims. The killer was going by location so far, not the extremity of relation. The first victim was living alone, but he had three sisters that lived out of London, who were still alive, from the last time Ciel checked. The second victim was his distant brother in law, seven times removed. What was the killer aiming for? What was her purpose? Revenge? A job? Or was she just that sick enough, to attack a mother and a child, sacrificing the young boy to a ravenous demon, tearing the boy away from his mother's arms while she tied her up like a pig-

"EEEEEEEEEEE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE BATHROOM? DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO DISTURB A LADY'S PRIVACY?"

"HOLY FUCKING TAP DANCING JESUS! YOU FUCKING SCARED ME YOU STUPID TIT MOUSE!"

The second voice was not recognizable, and Ciel dashed to where the bathrooms were. He collided with a flustered Grell who was desperately trying to put his pants on while another figure stood by the doorway.

"Holy fucking shit! I nearly had a heart attack you guttersnipe! No need to be so fucking dramatic!"

Ciel trained a gun at the intruder's head, who immediately put his hands in the air, sensing hostility.

"Whoa, no need to get hostile. I ain't going to pull out a fucking machine gun outta my back pocket."

"In my line of profession, I don't think it would be too odd to assume that I get hostile, and I get hostile fast."

"Well_ shit,"_ the figure smirked, "They weren't kidding about you where they? I almost didn't believe them. You must be Ciel Phantomhive. I heard a lot about you, but I didn't think I'd ever get the pleasure of meeting you."

"Who are you? Come out where I can see you," Ciel glared.

"Sure. Don't get too friendly with that gun though," and the figure stepped toward them.

A man in his young twenties smiled at him. He wore a dirty brown fedora, and Ciel can see the reddish blonde bangs peeking out to cover his brown eyes. He wore plain clothing, a rather bland light purple button up long sleeve blouse and a vest, along with jeans, which made Ciel certain he was dealing with an American. The man smiled.

"Detective Charlie Fieldings. And I'm sure my partner is downstairs meeting your butler at the moment."

Charlie held out a badge for Ciel to see, and Ciel took a small glance at it before looking back at Charlie.

"I don't remember the Queen mentioning that a detective would be hired."

"Well, to be honest, she didn't hire us. We're pretty underground. Me and ol Gayle like to go 'hunting monsters' as some of my more comedious friends would say."

"Well, Mr. Fieldings, I'm afraid your services won't be necessary. I have everything under control, and I'm pretty confident that I'll catch the killer before the week is out."

"Oh yeah?" Charlie smiled, "Who was his first victim?"

"A man named Stanley Dudelson, now can we please move on from quoting useless information at each other-"

"Nope," Charlie smiled, "You're wrong. The first person Scavenger's Daughter murdered was a pregnant woman named Heather Deetz. The reason why you don't know this is because she wasn't murdered in London. He committed this crime in France."

"How can you connect those two murders-"

"Heather Deetz, 23, was found dead in her apartment two months ago. She was found bound in barbed wire in the torture position commonly known as Scavenger's Daughter. However, due to the messiness of the crime scene and the fact that the body displayed signs of bruising and stabbing, I was able to conclude that the death was dealt by an amateur. So whoever Scavenger's Daughter is, he hasn't been killing for very long. Also, at every crime scene, the killer left a clue. It only took Gayle about an hour to analyze it. It was a Sudoku, and a fairly simple one. We were able to find the scene of the next murder. We were too late though," Charlie remarked bitterly, "But we found out that the next victim, Joseph Shaye, along with his whole family, was related to Heather Deetz. He killed twenty more in France. All related. Distantly of course. They didn't even know they had come from the same family."

Charlie smirked only slightly, in mock pride, "So I think it's safe to assume that your murderer is the same one I was dealing with in France. So I think I'll politely disagree with you. You don't have any _fucking_ clue what you're up against."

+X+

"I apologize in advance for his rude mouth. Charlie didn't have a mother to wash it out for him."

"Keep poking fun Gayle. I know where you sleep at night."

Gayle was a tall man. A very tall man. Taller than Sebastian, so it wasn't stupid to assume Gayle was some sort of giant. He was very thin though, and looked as if a breeze would knock him over. He was the handsomer of the two, that was for sure. He wore a cleaner fedora than his partner, and a dark trench coat. He also had dark black hair with white tuffs on the sides, side burns, and hazel eyes that almost looked orange.

"Gayle Amaker. At your service," he shook Ciel's hand and smiled politely. Grell was on him in an instant.

"Well~! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes! I feel as though you can just scoop me up in those arms of yours!~"

If Gayle knew that Grell was a man, he didn't voice it. Instead, he seemed to laugh a little to himself at Grell's antics, as if remembering an old joke.

Charlie was busy examining the body, while Gayle made himself useful by assuring Ciel that Charlie wasn't going to murder them all and make off with their wallets, if they had any.

"I was put off by him too when I first met him, but Charles knows his stuff. There hasn't been a single case he couldn't solve. He's pretty determined, and brash, and he means well. He's been chasing monsters all his life, it seems. Since he was a kid, I know that. His mother was murdered when he was young, and ever since he's been trying to find the murderer."

"I guess I can sympathize with Mr. Fieldings myself. He seems to know more about this case than I do. How about we share some information?"

"Are you talking shit about me Gayle?" Charlie strode in, "Cuz you know I still have that story about that one girl we met in Finland. What was her name? Nicholas? Ivan?"

"Don't do that Charlie. They'll believe you," Gayle smiled, "Mr. Phantomhive wants to exchange information."

"Does he? Fantastic. Alright little Phantomhive. Hit me."

"A description at best. Quid pro quo. I'll tell you something and you can tell me something."

"Alright. Deal. Description?"

"A violet haired woman with pink eyes."

"Uh, wow. That's pretty specific. Who told you that?"

"I have reason to protect my sources. Now you."

"Well, I guess you'd have be an idiot not to realize the killer likes to leave clues at the murder scene. I wish I had went to all of them, because maybe they connected, but some asshole officers threw most of the evidence out, so at best I have a clock puzzle, a very twisted version of Einstein's riddle, and a search word. The search word was pretty gross. The killer left the answer under the victim's fingernails."

"I have a crossword."

"No shit! Where'd you get it?"

"Again, my sources are confidential. Would you like to see it?"

"Of course! Let me have a look at the bitch!"

Sebastian handed the piece of paper over to Charlie, who wolf whistled when he read it. "You solved it?"

"Yes. The answer was a address."

"Looks like our killer is getting more specific. Usually he tells us the apartment building or a last name. This is great. He's getting braver. It means he's bound to slip up soon."

"Have you gotten an idea about what our newest clue could be?"

"Well, it's pretty vague. The killer, he likes puzzles you see. There's always a logical way to solve them, even if he doesn't make it easy. But see, look here," Charlie pointed at the victim's chest, "See how that chain around her neck looks broken off? Well, the killer probably yanked the necklace to get the pendant off, and I noticed the victim's mouth was open, so I took a peek, and there was something stuck inside. Looked like a cross. And that got me thinking, why the fuck would someone shove a cross down someone's throat? And then I looked at that verse, and suddenly I remembered. It's a fucking bible verse."

"Exodus 22:18, to be precise," Gayle murmured.

"Right, so I started thinking about what the passage means right? But that's too vague. Especially with our murderer being so fucking specific about everything. So I started looking at it through numbers. First the passage, 22:18. But then I look at the words themselves. Thirty letters. And then, seven spaces between the words. 22 18 30 7. Wait, wait, I need to sort this out. "

Charlie took out a pad of paper and a pen from his bag, and crouched over a table and began to work.

"Add them, and 77, the magic number, and if you go from 7 back to 7 forward, you get en oh sl. And it's a bible verse, so of course, Exodus must be included. It's important. And then, ah, that bitch. It's an anagram, of course it is. Hm, the only name I can get from his is… Ed Nosh Lo. You know an Ed Ciel?"

"No, and I think you're going at it the wrong way. You mentioned the killer started in France? Perhaps the killer is French. He's used different languages before. So if you do it a different way…I'm thinking…De Lesons Houx, or more properly, De Leçons Houx. Lessons of Holly. There is an all girl's school at the outskirts of town, perhaps one of the teacher's names is Holly."

"Brilliant! Brilliant!" Charlie gushed, "You really do know your stuff, don't you Phantomhive! Color me surprised! We should hurry; we don't want to be late for class!"

**A/N: Hey guys! Welcome back to Sarah land. A freaking love Charlie. So expect more from him.**

**Seriously, it took me forever to come up with a puzzle that only have makes sense. I'm saving the really interesting ones for later. This chapter was basically to get things to move along, introduce Gayle and Charlie, and to give you a better picture on who the murderers are. From what you can gather, I hope, that they are not happy bunnies.**

**I do wonder what it was Elenora did to make Sebastian so embarrassed, the possibilities are endless! :D**

**Anyway, comment please. Reviews are like delicious slices of five layered chocolate pie to me! And the more you comment, the sooner you find out who the killer is! **


	3. Chapter 3

_Thou Shall Not Suffer a Witch to Live_

That verse had more meaning than she liked to admit.

She can still remember the onetime Elenora abandoned her.

She could still feel the smoldering heat, the flames that licked at her flesh. The scars wouldn't go away, she knew that. She covered them up as best as she could, but you could still see the molted flesh if you cared to look too closely at her neck.

It hurt to touch, but she endured. She has always endured. That is what humans do. They have the ability to endure things.

But she could not endure Elenora's twisted smirk when she had finally come calling to save her.

Elenora was beautiful, but she could always smell her ugliness. She reeked of it, even when she commanded Elenora to hold her tight and pretend she meant something to her.

She remembered that for the first time, she had cried. Elenora had saved her, and she was far from the danger now, but she could feel the pain on her body, smelt her burning flesh, and flinched at the burned skin.

"_You're a monster!" _She had screamed, _"How can you do this to me? You're sick, you're EVIL."_

She spit the words like a curse, snarling and snapping from Elenora's hands. Her face was blank. She couldn't tell what she was really thinking. Always, with that blank face. Unless she smirked.

"_Evil am I?" _Elenora cradled her, _"Now, my Lady, don't go pointing fingers unless you're willing to point one at the mirror."_

"_You knew. You KNEW. You knew what they were going to do to me, and you just let them! I trusted you!"_

"_Which is precisely why I had you go through with it. Your independence on me is flattering, but I told you once before, I have no interest in sweet things my lady. I want you to be rich, dark, rotted, I want you to be perfection in itself and laugh while my evilness curdles around you."_

"_You're full of lies! You're nothing but a cheat and a liar! You're supposed to be my partner! We're supposed to work together. I know I cannot command you to do anything, all I want is your promised word that you will help me finish what we started!"_

"_And I am doing so. I would not let them kill you. But you believed them when they said I wouldn't, did you? The reason I did not take your soul the first time has not changed. I don't want it just yet."_

"_Then why did you let them do this to me….they….they said I was…"_

"_Say it. Say it because you only know it's true, sweet one."_

"_A witch. I was a witch and you are my devil. And they burned me, oh Elenora, they burned me and all I can do was swallow it. I hate them. I FUCKING HATE THEM."_

"_Feel what you did then Lady. Feel it all through your very core."_

"_Shut up! I hate you too!"_

"_What was true in those flames was true now. You could have ended it. You could have repented and given me up. I thought it was hate too my lady, when the burned me. You know this. I ate hate, I lived my very life in it. But something happened to me in the flames Sweet, and it happened to you. It happened to me just as it happened to you."_

"_No!" _she hunched over, trying to get her to stop. To make _everything_ stop.

"_What you felt in those flames had nothing to do with me. You took those lies and found truth in it. You found something true about yourself."_

"_I can't feel anything anymore!"_

"_Don't run from it my Lady. You've been running all your life." _Elenora took her in her arms, and held her, holding her tight like her mother would, but her mother never did.

"_Commit to this my Lady. You need to feel this. _

She couldn't do anything. She didn't even want to listen, because she just wanted Elenora to stop. She closed her eyes as tightly as she could, but the tears kept squeezing out.

"_They took your freedom from you. They took your ability to feel. They took any chance of you to love. They put you in a cell and took everything that mattered to you except your life._

She began to bawl like a child.

"_You believed that was all there was, the only thing you had left was your life. But being alive and living isn't the same. You found something else, in those flames you found something that mattered more to you than life itself, because when they threatened you to take it, threatened to kill you unless you gave them what they wanted, you told them you rather die."_

Her tears subsided now, and her breath came back to her, and she sucked in a great lungful of air.

"_You faced your death, believing I wouldn't come for you. You didn't fight it. Try to feel what you felt then."_

She felt that release once more, that sense of releasing all her burdens of the world, and warmth spreading through her entire being.

"_Oh god, I felt like….."_

+X+

"I feel like a need a shower after this," Charlie groaned to himself.

"How long have you been staying in London, Mr. Fieldings?"

"Oh, we got here…two days ago I think. Is that right Gayle?"

"Three Charles."

"Oh, that's right. And we've been on the road for longer."

"I can tell," Ciel wrinkled his nose.

"I'm not a fan of my hygiene either, but bathtubs are rarely found in the middle of nowhere."

"How long until we reach the school?"

"Soon enough. But enough time to ask some questions of my own."

"Don't trust me yet? You've serious issues."

"Where did you get your license?"

"Oh….well, we're not officially licensed, per se…."

"The police usually call us what they want us to do some investigation off the record."

"Oh god, they swear like we screw things up all the fucking time."

"What about that incident with O'Mal-"

"Yeah, Gayle. Shut the fuck up yeah? I don't want to talk about that."

"To be frank Mr. Phantomhive, we're unlicensed detectives. We generally move around a lot, and are methods are pretty unorthodox," Gayle said somberly, "We never really got anywhere by 'Following the rules…"

"As long as it gets the job done, I'm not really worried." Charlie cut in.

"I see. How many cases have you solved?"

"Uh…" Charlie smirked, "Geeze, I don't know. What is it….more than thirty, I know that. We kinda celebrated that one, cuz boy, that case sucked."

"A murderer we use to know challenged us."

"Yeah, it wasn't fun realizing that the victim was actually arranged like a giant clock using her limbs and a bunch of stuffed animals. Bartholomew keeps on trying to send out hit jobs to wack me off. Definitely not the highlight of my career."

"And you Mr. Amaker. We haven't heard much from you," Ciel switched his gaze over to him.

"I would tell you all that I could if I could remember, I sadly lost my memory around five years ago. That's when I met Charles." Gayle smiled sadly, "My life is his now. I don't remember anything else besides him."

"Good thing too. Gayle has got me outta some pretty tight spots, haven't you Gayle? Of course, he can't shoot for shit. We've all got are strengths."

"I would certainly hope so!~" Grell wound his arms around Gayle's. Again, if he minded, he didn't do anything to stop it. He just went on smiling.

"Hey, you're not really a broad, are you?" Charlie shot a look at Grell.

"One should not ask a Lady such ques-"

"Yeah, you're sensitive, I get it. Just for my mind's sake, because I'm going to be wondering about it until I die. You're a guy, right?"

"Yes," Grell frowned, "Yes, I am."

"Oh, alright then," Charlie lay back in his seat before shooting Grell another look.

"So that means I can't hit on you right?"

"_Excuse me?"_

"I'm just pulling your chain! No need to get snarky!" Charlie laughed.

Ciel rubbed his forehead. He so could not wait to get away from these too.

+X+

"No, I'm sorry, we don't have anyone by the name of Holly here."

The secretary was old and tire, and looked about ready to strangle the next child she set her eyes on.

"What about Houx?"

"No, no one goes by that na-"

The secretary stopped now looking surprised.

"Wait, you said Houx?"

"I did. Does someone go by that name?"

"No, but, one of our French teachers, Jean Francois, she simply won't shut up about that place. Apparently her father is the mayor. She couldn't stop crying for weeks. You see, her father was murdered about a month ago-"

"Madam, where is Ms. Francois now?"

"She took the day off to be with her family. I sent a student to her home about an hour ago to deliver a message to her that came in the mail. It had the strangest symbol on it. It looked like a briar patch, or barbed wire….."

"Madam, where does she live! We need to know immediately!"

"What's this about anyway!"

"We believe that she will be the next victim of the Scavenger's Daughter, now tell me where she is!"

+X+

Grell was the first to spot the house. He was the first to see the blood.

A girl was perched on the steps, probably the girl that delivered the message. She had flecks of blood on her blue dress.

She looked up at Grell, her brown eyes tearing up, "Ms. Francois….dead….they're all dead."

Charlie took the girl in his arms, comforting, "It's alright now. We'll take good care of her."

"What's your name?" Gayle asked.

"Florence. Florence O'Douis."

"What happened?" Ciel trudged up to the girl. It was easy to tell that she was taller than him. She was also incredibly filthy.

"I came here like Mrs. Tanner said. She wanted me to deliver this message," She handed Ciel the crumpled paper in her hands.

_As you have probably figured out, this letter was not meant for Jean Francois. She was dead before you reached the school._

_Yes, I know you're following me. I congratulate you for making it this far, but I warn you know. It is unwise to play games with me. But you seem capable enough, so I implore you. Go ahead. Make your next move._

_You won't be able to catch me though, not until it's too late. You can't beat me, because to me, losing means death, it's all the same to me, and I can't say that I'm all too ready to die yet._

_The meaning of this letter is your next clue. Riddles, because I'm feeling a little nostalgic at the moment._

_However, in order to truly understand the answer, you must figure out what the answer to the riddles mean._

_The First._

_Imagine you are in a room. The room is completely black. There are absolutely no windows, no doors and no lights. But there is a way out. HOW DO YOU GET OUT?_

_The Second._

_What question can you never honestly answer yes to?_

_Have fun._

_The Scavenger's Daughter._

"He's taunting us."

Ciel turned to walk away.

"What about the body?" Charlie asked, and the girl sobbed.

"I don't need to see it. I have what I need," Ciel grumbled.

"Let's take you home!" Grell said cheerfully to the girl, "You're mother is probably worried!"

"Probably," the girl muttered.

"We'll meet up with you tomorrow. It's late." Charlie mused, "Morning, here?"

"That's fine. Until tomorrow Fieldings. Amaker."

+X+

"Charlie boy is hiiiiiiiding something!" Grell laughed when he met up with them in their city home. He was practically floating. Probably because now he knew where Gayle lived.

"Hiding something?" Ciel grumbled, "Something I should be worried about Reaper?"

"Not really," Grell laughed, "But when you find out about it, it'll slap you in the face.~"

**A/N: Sorry that it's a little short. I'm working at the speed of light. **

**Gayle is pretty crush worthy, but you'll laugh when you realize why he doesn't give a shit. At least, I think it's funny.**

**I'm loving the names I come up with. Seriously. **


End file.
